By me and @maxseddon: I think this is a pretty novel insight into the war. We’ve pieced together how a Russian smuggling network moved stuff from Western Europe for the war effort, but also how the architect in the middle pulled together the network.

“The six-week trial in a Valletta court was widely seen as a critical test of the EU member state’s ability to stand up to corruption and organised crime” - ⁦@xtophercook⁩

A small group of traders earned a $99.6mn windfall by buying Melania Trump’s cryptocurrency token in the minutes before it was made public, an analysis by the Financial Times has found. https://t.co/KqsDps49lU

NEW: Traders made $100mn from buying Melania Trump memecoin minutes before launch https://t.co/IhzC2DHMeu via @financialtimes

NEW: Huawei is building a 7nm fab in Shenzhen for its smartphone and Ascend chips, its first effort to manufacture its own high-end chips. The Guanlan site is part of a sprawling network of new chip manufacturing sites all working on various elements of Huawei's push to become

The Bangladeshi politician who built a shadowy global property empire. Our investigation on Saifuzzaman Chowdhury is today’s @FT Big Read. with @pcaruanagalizia @xtophercook @SavageSusannah ⁦@ChloeNCornish⁩

Russian ship under sanction for carrying N Korea arms sails for European waters https://t.co/fP2jSD7Ear via @ft Me with @xtophercook

BREAKING: UK City minister Tulip Siddiq resigns from post in government following FT reporting into family ties and properties. Story w/ @xtophercook and @SavageSusannah https://t.co/TMHwGsRmBO

EU shipyards are repairing Russian ice-class tankers and offering them dry dock facilities, enabling Moscow to continue moving gas through the Arctic despite western sanctions on its energy sector. https://t.co/vtKhyRz4Iy via @ft w @xtophercook

NEW: The UK's City Minister Tulip Siddiq this evening faces calls to resign as a senior Labour official concedes that her position has grown "hard to defend" amid a property scandal. @FT w/@xtophercook, @SavageSusannah and @AnnaSophieGross https://t.co/uQ15APk0Va

Russia trained officers for attacks on Japan and South Korea - Happy New Year X/Twitter. As first thread for 2025 I want to focus on ‘adversarial alignment’ - a theme I believe will be crucial to address in months to come. A thread linked to this FT piece:

Great article by ⁦@maxseddon⁩ ⁦@xtophercook⁩ on the leaked Russian documents (the 4th in a series), this time about how Russia prepares for simultaneous/opportunistic attacks on the ROK and Japan when planning a surprise attack on NATO.

We got a look at some potential Russian strike targets in Japan and South Korea in the event a conflict with NATO leads to “horizontal escalation.” There are lots of civilian targets –including nuclear power plants. And a gif! with ⁦@xtophercook⁩

seriously: a gif.

Totally agree. And it hits you right from the start: “In Tadamon, the children know the difference between a human jaw and a dog’s.”

Europe agrees insurance crackdown on Russia’s ‘dark fleet’ https://t.co/8Q1kBGCYCA via @ft w/ @xtophercook @HenryJFoy and @lauramdubois

Russia appears to be withdrawing some of its Syria-based forces following the sudden fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to analysis of satellite photography and a Ukrainian intelligence assessment. w/ @xtophercook @maxseddon https://t.co/wru7ZzOzBk via @FT

update! something is happening with Russian forces in Syria! heavy lifters have turned up at Hmeimim, S-400 launchers have been packed up at the base, things on the move. Not clear if this is withdrawal or sending surpluses home, but big move of materiel.

Strikingly little movement at both places: planes standing about for 24hrs at Khmeimim. No movement of kit on quays at Tartus. The warships are outside port - but loitering nearby outside range of a rogue mortar. But - above all - the air traffic just isn't there for an evac.

by me and @maxseddon: just not yet seeing a draw-down from Khmeimim or Tartus (feat @MassDara).

An unbelievable day in Damascus: “I’m 24yo and for every single one of those years I’ve had [Assad’s] boot on my neck, keeping me down,” said Omar Seif, who I met taking selfies in front of an abandoned tank. “But today? I can breathe for the 1st time.”